Shafiq Mir
I am not here to dispute with the Noble Peace Prize given to Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan who was reportedly attacked by Taliban militants for her movement to educate girls in Sawat valley of Pakistan where Taliban militants had put ban on the education of girls . But I have a personal story to tell that how a girl from my area had come into prominence at national level for the work she had never done . The said girl of my area namely Rukhsana Kouser is a recipient of many national bravery awards and is known figure in the entire India . She was branded as most brave girl of Jammu and Kashmir who had killed a prominent LeT militant commander called Uzafa Shah or Abu Ussama which is still a disputed case that which one militant commander was killed by her .
It was last week of September 2009 when a 10th class school dropout girl of a village in border district of Rajouri of Jammu and Kashmir state had hit the headlines of all media channels and newspapers of India for her brave act of killing a prominent militant commander of Lashker-e-Toiba in the area who was headache for security forces for long. The killed militant was first identified by the security forces as one Uzafa Shah of Pakistan and later he was identified as Abu Ussama of Pakistan. After five years of the incident, the security forces are yet to make a final decision whether the killed militant was Uzafa or Ussama or any other gun man . Though the brave girl has received all bravery awards but it is yet to be known that which one militant she had killed .
The story goes like this. On 28th September 2009, a militant was killed by a family in village Shadra Sharief some 30 Kms north of Rajouri district head quarter in Jammu and Kashmir. On the next day, the news spread in the whole district that a militant was axed to death by a civilian unarmed family and it was really a news for the media circles including me as I was working with a local state based news paper that time and was also contributing to some national media organizations . Earlier to this, I was working with a national news paper and my those friends and contacts were still alive and they would often get some news stories from me . On 29th of September 2009, most of the reporters reached the spot and reported the incident as it was and they gave equal credit to all the family members who had contributed in the killing of this militant. However, I reached there at about 3pm along with a Jammu based journalist who was my colleague in my previous organization and insisted me to accompany him up to the spot . Otherwise I had already filled my story as it was for the news paper I was working for . When we reached Shadra Sharief at the house of the family, the house was locked . On being enquired from the neighbors, they told us that all the family members were in a nearby field with their cattle . After some wait a middle aged lady and a young girl about 18 to19 years old emerged with their cattle and got interactive with us. After introducing ourselves, the due of mother daughter narrated the whole story. They said, three militants came to the house of one Wakalet Hussain who was uncle of the later emerged main character of the story Rukhsana Kouser . They asked him to accompany them to the adjoining house of his elder brother Noor Hussain . When Noor Hussain didn’t open the door, the militants broke open a window and entered the house , as per Rashida Begum . By then, Noor Hussain and his wife Rashida Begum had hidden daughter Rukhsana beneath a cot. This “ brave” girl was beneath the cot as per her own statement at that time . They further said, on not finding Rukhsana, the militants started beating Rashida. Son Aijaz Ahmed tried to pic up a stick( Lathi) but one of the militants hit him . They said that on this, all the family members attacked the militants with axes and sticks killing one of them on the spot . Rukhsana said that she also attacked the militant who was killed . But in this whole episode only Wakalet Hussain uncle of the girl was injured. There were total five people involved in this brave act . Fther of the girl, Noor Hussain, mother of the girl Rashida Begum, brother Aijaz Ahmed and Uncle Wakalet Hussain beside Rukhsana though she was hiding beneath cot at that time as per her mother’s statement .It was only Wakalet Hussain who had sustained an injury during the scuffle, no body else was even injured including brave girl Rukhsana . After getting all these details, we returned to town where my colleague journalist of a national newspaper was staying in PWD guest house. While filing his story, he told me that he has given his story such an angle that it will get lead space in the paper. He filled his story projecting Rukhsana Kouser as lead character of the whole episode despite the fact that she was hiding beneath the cot as per the statement of her own mother Rashida Begum leaving all other members of the family in shadow including Wakalet Hussain who was injured in this scuffle . On the next day ,when this story appeared in the news paper there was no looking back for other media houses and all of them ran behind the girl and forgot all others involved in this episode . With in days, Rukhsana was at the height of headlines and her injured uncle Wakalet Hussain was crying with the pain of injuries he had received during the so called fight . But no body heard him. And even the father and brother of the girl were not heard. The stories were cooked that Rukhsana and her brother had fired many bullets from the AK 47 and AK 56 rifles of the militants but no body asked a question that where from they had got the training of operating such automatic weapons. In fact, there were many other stories making rounds that how the militant was killed with a technical move which don’t want to divulge here. Even on day of the incident there was a competition between local army post and the district police to get the credit of this militant’s killing but finally police decided to give its all credit to this civil family instead of army . Rukhsana, is now recipient of many awards and all other family members are no where in picture . Rukhsana got many prestigious awards of the country even no wonder if she gets Padma award any time , but no body even bothered to see that what was her role and even the militant killed is yet to be identified . Since then, Rukhsana has received many gallantry and bravery awards and no body bothered to investigate the whole episode and no body identified the role of other family members involved in this episode . And no wonder even if she gets Padma award but here in her native district every body knows that she was only one of the participants in the scuffle not the lead character of the story. However, later when Wakalet Hussain felt that his niece Rukhsana was getting undue benefits, he tried his best to tell the real story but there was no taker of his words as the Rukhsana had reached the stage where no body could beat her.
Similar is the story of Malala Yousefzai of Sawat valley of Pakistan . MalalaYousafzai was born on 12 July 1997 in the Swat District of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, into a Sunni Muslim family of Pashtun ethnicity. She was given her first name Malala (meaning “grief-stricken”) after Malalai of Maiwand, a famous Pashtun poet and warrior woman from southern Afghanistan. Her last name, Yousafzai, is that of a large Pashtun tribal confederation that is predominant in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, where she grew up. At her house in Mingora, she lived with her two younger brothers, her parents, Ziauddin and Tor Pekai, and two pet chickens. Swat has always remained a popular tourist spot and attracted thousands of tourists due to its natural and scenic beauty. Queen Elizabeth II once during her visit to the area called it “the Switzerland of the east”.
Fluent in Pashto, English, and Urdu, Yousafzai was educated in large part by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who is a poet, school owner, and an educational activist himself, running a chain of schools known as the Khushal Public School. She once stated to an interviewer that she would like to become a doctor, though later her father encouraged her to become a politician instead. Ziauddin referred to his daughter as something entirely special, permitting her to stay up at night and talk about politics after her two brothers had been sent to bed.
Malala Yousafzai started speaking about education rights as early as September 2008, when her father took her to Peshawar to speak at the local press club. “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” Yousafzai asked her audience in a speech covered by newspapers and television channels throughout the region . As per reports, in fact, it was not Malala who was target of Taliban, it was her father Ziaudin Yousefzai who runs a chains of schools in Sawat valley under the banner of Khushaal schools . He is also know political activist of ANP . The attack on Malal was in fact to terrorize her father who was running schools in Taliban area where they had banned education of girls . For grils education Mallal had given a single lecture in Pashwer press club where she was brought by her father like every parent . On October 9, 2012 when the School bus was targeted by Talibaan militants two more school girls had sustained injuries but they were never reported and highlighted like Malala . Observers say that in fact , her father utilized the incident brilliantly and managed to bring his daughter in the limelight . And he used all anti Taliban quarters in west in the name of Malala .
(The author is a freelance journalist and columnist based in Jammu and Kashmir)
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